Using the five senses to explore your body and mind
As we advance in our mindfulness and meditation exercises we can start exploring guided meditations, such as the one in Lesson 5. Guided meditations are stories we tell ourselves to help ourselves relax and explore our psyche. They can be really useful in dealing with subconscious concerns or with things we have a hard time admitting to ourselves about our lives. They also can prove to be useful in accessing our creativity. Guided meditations will usually instruct you to relax certain parts of your body while focusing on visualizations, usually peaceful ones. Though meditation and especially guided meditations have a New Age feel to them, meditation has actually been important in most world religions. Even the Torah and New Testament make references to meditation! But just because many world religions condone meditation, does not mean that it has to have a religious focus, nor do you have to be a religious or spiritual person in order to get benefits from meditation. All of our meditations we will offer here will be secular in nature but if you are a spiritual person, you are more than welcome to include your spirituality in these meditations as you feel inspired to.
Throughout our Health and Wellness articles we will start offering guided meditations to help with everything from stress and sleeplessness to activating your joy and creativity. These meditations are more advanced than the typical mindfulness we have been practicing so if you do not have experience with meditation and mindfulness, we encourage you to head over to our Mindfulness articles here. Once you have mastered your mindful breaths and being able to meditate while handling distractions, emotional and physical, you are ready to start with your guided meditations. Today we will focus on an easy guided meditation, very similar to the body scans we have been practicing in the mindfulness lessons. We will be going through each of the five senses.
To begin this meditation, find your comfortable spot and start your mindful breathing. Let your shoulders drop from your ears, your jaw loosen. Rotate your wrists and fingers and let the tension of the day release. Breathe in deep and pull your belly button to spine, sitting up tall and feeling a gentle stretch in your spine. Exhale and let your belly go soft. Breathe in like this one more time and drop your head, letting your neck do half neck rolls. Roll your head back up and stretch your legs out, rotating your ankles and flexing and pointing your toes. Now that you feel relaxed, shut your eyes and continue with your mindful breathing. On your next inhale, visualize golden light entering your body through your breath, on the exhale see the dark and wasted energy exiting your body. With each breath in, see the golden light fill more and more of your body up, until you are completely full of golden light.
Now that you are full of new energy and breath, feel your skin. How does your skin feel at this moment? Are you cold, hot, on something soft, itchy? Feel everything touching you. Feel what your feet are touching and how it makes the soles of your feet feel. What are your hands touching? Does it make them feel soft or dry? Feel the fabric of your clothes, of your chair, everything your body is touching; feel the sensation of touch. Next move onto sound. What are you hearing? Perhaps you started in a quiet room but upon closer inspection you realize that this is not the case. The room has lots of micro noises that are coming alive as you are tuning your ear into them. Or maybe you choose to listen to music during this meditation, listen to the song deeply and meaningfully. You can place the song on repeat and listen over and over again, focusing on a different quality each time. Feel your ears fill with all the wonderful noises around you.
Next comes taste. How does your mouth taste? Is it dry or wet? Are there flavors from your last meal or drink? Are you craving to taste something salty or sweet? Does thinking about the flavors and experiencing your mouth make you long for nourishment? Feel the hunger swell in your belly as you contemplate all the tastes in your mouth. As you think about taste start smelling the room around you. If you are in your own house you may be accustomed to the smells but try smelling your shirt, or pillow. Savor the smells in your surroundings. Now open your eyes and look at the world around you. Take in all the beautiful detail your eyes give you with their sight. As you grow accustomed to this meditation you can bring physical cues. Something to taste, to smell, to touch, to stare at and to listen to. You can adjust these objects towards what you feel naturally drawn to at that moment.
When you are ready you can end the meditation. Shut your eyes one last time and breathe in one last golden breath. Hold that light in you as you exhale the used energy. Touch on every sense and thank each one before opening your eyes and starting with the rest of your day. Great job! You just completed your first guided meditation.
We would love to hear your experiences with this meditation. Contact us at info@bullionite.com with your comments and questions.